Iraqis go to polls for first time since U.S. pullout

An Iraqi woman, the last voter in a polling center in the Karrada neighborhood, polling center casts her ballot just before polls closed in the country's provincial elections in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 20, 2013. Iraqis passed through security checkpoints and razor-wire cordons to vote in the country's first vote since the U.S. military withdrawal, marking an important test of the country's stability. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)

Iraq carried out its first election since the U.S. military withdrawal with only minor bloodshed yesterday in a major test for Iraqi security forces as they face a reviving al-Qaida insurgency. But delayed elections in two provinces wracked by anti-government protests and complaints about missing names on voter rolls overshadowed the vote.

The results will be a key measure of support for the country’s vying political coalitions and could boost the victors’ chances heading into next year’s parliamentary elections. Thousands of candidates from 50 electoral blocs were vying for 378 seats on provincial councils, which hold sway over public works projects and other decisions at the local level.

Officials ratcheted up security to thwart insurgent attempts to disrupt the vote. Nearly all cars were ordered off the roads in major cities, leaving streets eerily empty and giving children a chance to play soccer in the middle of highways.

Scattered violence – mainly mortar shells and small bombs – struck near polling places. But they resulted in no fatalities – a departure from a wave of bloodshed earlier in the week. Six people were reported wounded yesterday.

As in past elections, voters dipped their fingers in purple ink after casting their ballots to prevent repeat voting.

Among them was Oday Mohammed, a businessman who brought his mother, wife and children along with him to vote for a candidate from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law bloc. He said he believes both candidates and voters are growing more experienced with the democratic process following the 2003 ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein.

“Not all politicians are corrupt. There are some good people,” he said at a polling center in the mainly Shiite district of Kazimiyah.

The vote comes at a time of rising tensions between Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority and the Shiite majority that has dominated politics since the U.S.-led invasion a decade ago.

In a reflection of those sectarian strains, many voters said they were encouraged to participate by religious leaders.

“I don’t have any hope that the situation will improve, but I had to take part because our clerics asked us to so we don’t lose out like in the past,” said Anwar al-Obaidi, a 60-year old Sunni barber in Baghdad.

Muqdad al-Shuraifi, a member of the electoral commission, said after polls closed that a preliminary count showed 51 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. That is the same turnout as during the last provincial elections in 2009.

Full election results were not expected for several days.

Many Iraqis are frustrated with the lack of progress despite several earlier regional and national elections, which were protected with help from the United States. Several said they saw no point in casting ballots.

“All the politicians and provincial officials, whether Sunni or Shiite, are nothing but thieves and liars,” said Ali Farhan, a 35-year-old taxi driver in eastern Baghdad, in explaining his choice not to vote.

Militants stepped up attacks ahead of the vote. A wave of car bombings and other attacks Monday killed at least 55 people and wounded more than 200. Another bombing at a packed cafe late Thursday left 32 dead. And at least 14 candidates were assassinated in recent weeks.

Several would-be voters in Baghdad’s mainly Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah could not find their names on voting rolls at several polling centers, so they went home without casting ballots.